Coming off of his win over Marco Antonio Barrera, Manny Pacquiao is on top of the world. This victory is somewhat the opposite of his failed political run. The only voters that could stand in his way were the three judges that would decide if he kept his WBC Super Featherweight Belt or if it would walk out of Mandalay Bay snugly tucked against the waist of arch nemesis Marco Antonio Barrera. In this case, he left the fight in such a condition that it was nearly impossible for Barrera to win, thoroughly out dueling him en route to a lopsided unanimous decision.
Barrera?s fight with Pacquiao followed his loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last year in the very same ring with the very same Michael Buffer and Company surrounding the fighters and entertaining the fans. The bout with Marquez was a close one for Barrera and provided spectacular action and every penny?s worth of ticket or Pay Per View purchased in order to see it.
The lineage makes sense in this scenario. Marquez once took a crack at Pacquiao. In fact, he fought Pacquiao in the fight following Barrera?s first shot. While Barrera?s first showdown with Pacquiao was an eleven round beat down victory for Pacquiao, Marquez was able to box and compete far more competitively in a dramatic fight that has defined the career of both fighters.
Entering the fight, Marquez was a great underrated fighter that had never landed a fight nearly of the proportion of the Pacquiao showdown. Marquez, 42-2-1, 33 KO’s, at the time, had victories over numerous world champions such as Manuel Medina and Robbie Peden. However, neither of these competitors nor any of the other men Marquez had faced would create the prize purse or challenge presented by a Pacquiao showdown.
Pacquiao was one of the strongest competitors in the game. At 38-2-2, 30 KO’s, Pacquiao?s resume was full of fireworks and had recently gained the postmark of ?Barrera? for purposes of credibility. In a technical sense, Barrera had been WBC Champion after defeating Erik Morales for the belt but vacated it for more or less political reasons. That motion prompted Pacquiao to declare himself ?The People?s Champion.? Marquez was the WBA/IBF. All in all, there was plenty on the line for this fight.
On the flipside of the coin, this fight was Marque?z shot at eternal legitimacy. If he could win the fight, it would showcase his talent properly for the masses. If he showcased his talent properly for the masses, then he could win the fight. Think that through for a moment.
The fighters stepped into the ring looking confident as ever. Pacquiao entered in his typical fashion, with Freddie Roach trailing in a red NO FEAR headband and a team of trainers walking around him as he bobbed and punched the air. Marquez was trailed by his countrymen and his flag, a staple of many Mexican fighters. The crowd of 7,129 was electric and close to split down the middle for the two fighters.
While Marquez had a few more fans in number, Pacquiao?s crowd matched them in volume. Then, the fight actually began.
The two men traded for the first two minutes of the round, with Marquez getting slightly better returns on the exchanges. After several big left-right combinations, Marquez got cocky and decided to take the fight to the Filipino star. He came forward and slugged instead of boxed. Pacquiao made him pay with a long, hard left hand that sent him to his butt. Marquez got up rather quickly and without daze, apparently ready to keep fighting. He flailed his punches and winged them until Pacquiao again knocked him down, this time with a flying hammer left hook.
While Marquez slid on his butt during the first knockdown, he rolled backwards nearly onto his shoulders for the second one. He also looked notably dazed, yet another difference between the two moments of impact. Marquez got back to his feet rather quickly, but was clearly interested in minimizing the damage. The rest of the round was a retreat for him.
Pacquiao backed Marquez up with a steady diet of sharp lefts, a straight right and a soul crushing left hand to knock him to the mat yet again. At that moment, Marquez became tied up in the second rope, where suspended in mid air for a few moments more before Pacquiao gladly took the gift fate had handed him by nailing the then-champion with a right hand from above. The shot came after the knockdown, but Pacquiao clearly could not see whether or not Marquez was up or down on his own strength or if the rope held him.
Marquez was truly rocked but again rose to his feet. At this point, his balance was as bad as it had been in any fight of his career, his nose was busted and bleeding profusely and it seemed as though he would not be able to finish the fight. In spite of this, Marquez continued to come forward throwing punches, not once trying to tie up Pacquiao in the remainder of the round. The bell mercifully rang about thirty seconds later and Marquez stumbled to his corner in a fashion that suggested that the fight was in the tenth round rather than the second. His whole body dripped in blood splotches.
The next five rounds were some of the most methodical, measured, and classic rounds in the history of boxing. Marquez began in the second round by establishing his jab and lying back from the furious hands of Pacquiao, opting to catch shots rather than initiate the action. As Pacquiao continued to sling large bombs one at a time, Marquez began to catch him with counter punch jabs and four punch combinations.
The ebb and flow of the fight weaved in and out of favor for both men in round three with Marquez generally landing the harder blows. At the bell, Marquez landed a huge right hand, his hardest punch of the fight. That punch and that round reestablished that the event as indeed a boxing match. While Pacquiao landed the big shots early, Marquez was coming on strong and showing now that he could Pacquiao?s rather stationary head with little problem.
It was in the fourth round that Marquez began to land more assuredly. After a minute and a half of pawing and backing up as Pacquiao came forward, Marquez landed several hard right hands every ten to fifteen seconds for the rest of the round. Right before the bell, the two fighters threw a boatload of shots. While this final exchange was even, most of the points in the round appeared to go towards Marquez.
In the fifth, Marquez began to punish Pacquiao on the back end of trades, landing a humungous right hand with 1:15 left that forced the Filipino warrior to cover up for the first time in the fight. It was here that a cut began to develop near Pacquiao?s right eye
In the sixth, Marquez varied his attack by mixing in body shots and changing up his combinations with shots over the top in both straight and looping fashion. With 1:45 to go, Marquez finally put Pacquiao in trouble by backing him up with a huge right hand. Pacquiao buckled at the knees, bent at the waist and stumbled back toward the ropes as Marquez charged forward and landed shots even as Pacquiao recovered. After several moments, the fight settled back into a boxing match. Marquez focused on the body and took turns nailing Pacquiao both upstairs and downstairs with ringing shots. The sixth round belonged to Marquez overall and it appeared that he had pulled even in terms of points in the bank. Before the seventh round, Pacquiao was told by Roach to double up his jab. His choice to ignore this advice led to yet another round for Marquez, whose continued assault to the body showed up easily on camera and in the faces of the judges. Marquez threw from all angles in the round and finished it with a vicious and intelligent uppercut that landed flush.
The two competitors headed into the ninth round with Marquez in control and it remained that way throughout most of the round. Pacquiao finally got back to his whirlwind offense by scoring with a straight left with 1:15 to go and then jolting Marquez with three hard lefts down the stretch of the round. Heading into the championship rounds, the fight was still up in the air.
The final three rounds are famous for a slight shift back in favor of Pacquiao as well as abandonment by both men of all efforts to attack the body. Now head hunting and stepping on the gas for the entirety of the rounds, Pacquiao and Marquez slammed each other to the head with straight, strafing shots and sweeping hooks. All the way up to the end of the twelfth round, leather flew back and forth in the ring and led to plenty of impact. When the final bell rang and ended the back and forth flurrying that punctuated most of the fight, both men acted as the winner. Pacquiao surely thought that his first round effort landed him the fight while Marquez likely figured that his efforts following that round won him the majority of available points. In the end, the scores announced a draw, with the cards reading 113-113, 115-110 (Marquez) and 115-110 (Pacquiao).
There are several key attributes that make this fight stand out. First and foremost, the fight would have been in favor of Pacquiao had all three of the scorecards read 10-6 for the first round rather than one of them reading 10-7. The odd scorecard was unconventional and decisive in the end result of the fight. Secondly, Marquez survived the first round in spite of his poor decision to brawl both before and after his knockdowns. His poor decision not to tie up never hurt him in the outcome of the showdown.
Finally, what mattered most in this fight was mentality. It can be said that Marquez showed heart by getting off the mat but it was his chin that saved him initially. After that, Marquez slowed the fight to the speed he preferred and caught Pacquiao off guard without a problem. Credit Nacho Beristain with pushing this one in the right direction with proper tone and guidance.
In the aftermath, both men have enjoyed considerably impressive winning streaks. Pacquiao has been in eight fights since and won all but one of them. That list includes an even score in two fights with Erik Morales, a beat down of formerly undefeated Jorge Solis and decisions over Oscar Larios and Barrera. The fight with Barrera was his last and took place earlier this month. It settles the score between them once and for all and allows Barrera to retire and step out of the picture. It also sets up a natural and eventual second fight between him and Marquez.
Marquez has since performed well himself, winning five fights and losing only one in competitive and controversial fashion against undefeated WBA Featherweight Champion Chris John. Those five wins include a pair of knockouts and a unanimous decision victory over Marco Antonio Barrera. He has a fight coming up in November against contender Rocky Juarez. Juarez lost to Barrera twice and is a heavy under dog.
This fight sets up the ultimate showdown that is hopefully to come between Marquez and Pacquiao, a rematch that the boxing public has waited on since the end of the first fight. This is the type of fight that flashes millions of bulbs and finishes a piece of history or continues into yet another great lightweight trilogy. The history tells it all.
